Generalized analysis of the deposition/splashing limit for one- and two-component droplet impacts upon thin films

[EN] Single drop impacts on thin liquid layers are of particular interest because of the ejection of secondary droplets, the so-called splashing. Only a few studies handle the deposition/splashing limit for two-component interaction, where the liquid properties of the impacting drop and wall film differ significantly. This study aims at identifying a unified approach for one- and two-component interactions to determine the deposition/splashing limit. Therefore, a large database of both interactions is considered, which includes data from literature for one-component interactions plus the following binary combinations: hyspin-hexadecane, diesel-hexadecane and diesel-motor oil. Furthermore, a systematic study of two-component interactions with several silicon oils and hexadecane is performed. To map the outcomes, the Ohnesorge number Oh and the Reynolds number Re calculated with arithmetically averaged fluid properties between droplet and wall film fluid are chosen. The dimensionsless film thickness δ is added to form a 3D plot, where one- and two-component experiments are combined. Existing correlations from the literature are revised regarding both interactions and their consistency is checked. The investigated range of high viscosity fluids allow us to propose an improvement of the correlation for high Oh. Our results show that the arithmetically averaged fluid properties lead to a good repartition of both one- and twocomponents interactions toward the deposition/splashing limit. They also corroborate the previous findings that an increase of δ inhibits splashing but its influence is decreasing with increasing Oh.The authors kindly acknowledge the financial support of this work by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) in the frame of the International Research Training Group "Droplet Interaction Technologies" (DROPIT)Bernard, R.; Foltyn, P.; Geppert, A.; Lamanna, G.; Weigand, B. (2017). Generalized analysis of the deposition/splashing limit for one- and two-component droplet impacts upon thin films. En Ilass Europe. 28th european conference on Liquid Atomization and Spray Systems. Editorial Universitat Politècnica de València. 730-737. https://doi.org/10.4995/ILASS2017.2017.4810OCS73073

Experimental Investigation of Droplet Injections in the Vicinity of the Critical Point: A comparison of different model approaches

[EN] The disintegration process of liquid fuel within combustion chambers is one of the most important parameters for efficient and stable combustion. Especially for high pressures exceeding the critical value of the injected fluids the mixing processes are not fully understood yet. Recently, different theoretical macroscopic models have been introduced to understand breakdown of the classical two phase regime and predict the transition from evaporation to a diffuse-mixing process. In order to gain deeper insight into the physical processes of this transition, a parametric study of free-falling n-pentane droplets in an inert nitrogen atmosphere is presented. Atmospheric conditions varied systematically from sub- to supercritical values with respect to the fluid properties. An overlay of a diffuse lighted image with a shadowgram directly in the optical setup (front lighted shadowgraphy) was applied to simultaneously detect the presence of a material surface of the droplet as well as changes in density gradients in the surrounding atmosphere. The experimental investigation illustrates, that the presence of a material surface cannot be shown by a direct shadowgram. However, reflections and refractions caused by diffuse ambient illumination are able to indicate the presence of a material surface. In case of the supercritical droplet injections in this study, front lighted shadowgraphy clearly revealed the presence of a material surface, even when the pre-heated droplets are released into a supercritical atmosphere. This detection of the droplet interface indicates, that the droplet remains subcritical in the region of interest, even though it is injected into a supercritical atmosphere. Based on the adiabatic mixing assumption recent Raman-scattering results in the wake of the droplet are re-evaluated to compute the temperature distribution. Presented experimental findings as well as the re-evaluation of recent Raman scattering results are compared to thermodynamic models to predict the onset of diffuse-mixing and supercritical disintegration of the droplet. Additionally, a one dimensional evaporation model is used to evaluate the validity of the adiabatic mixing assumption in the estimation of the droplet temperature. The presented findings contribute to the understanding of recent theoretical models for prediction of spray and droplet disintegration and the onset of diffuse-mixing processes.The authors gratefully acknowledge the German Research Foundation (DFG) for the financial support through the collaborative research centre SFB/Transregio 75.Steinhausen, C.; Lamanna, G.; Weigand, B.; Stierle, R.; Groß, J.; Preusche, A.; Dreizler, A. (2017). Experimental Investigation of Droplet Injections in the Vicinity of the Critical Point: A comparison of different model approaches. En Ilass Europe. 28th european conference on Liquid Atomization and Spray Systems. Editorial Universitat Politècnica de València. 830-837. https://doi.org/10.4995/ILASS2017.2017.4635OCS83083

Modeling of an electrically driven droplet generator

An electrohydrodynamic model for the simulation of droplet formation, mo- tion and detachment in an electrically driven droplet generator is introduced. The nu- merical approch is based on the coupled solution of the multiphase flow problem with the charge continuity equation. A conduction-convection model, taking into account con- ductive, capacitive and convective currents in the fluid, describes the charge relaxation phenomena in the moving liquid. The charge received by the droplets during acceleration by an external electric pulse is an important parameter influencing dynamics of droplets in the pressure chamber. The model is illustrated with simulations of detachment of high conductivity acetone droplets and low conductivity n-pentane droplets

Experimental and Numerical Investigation of Phase Separation due to Multi-Component Mixing at High-Pressure Conditions

[EN] Experiments and numerical simulations were carried out in order to contribute to a better understanding and prediction of high-pressure injection into a gaseous environment. Specifically, the focus was put on the phase separation processes of an initially supercritical fluid due to the interaction with its surrounding. N-hexane was injected into a chamber filled with pure nitrogen at 5 MPa and 293 K and three different test cases were selected such that they cover regimes in which the thermodynamic non-idealities, in particular the effects that stem from the potential phase separation, are significant. Simultaneous shadowgraphy and elastic light scattering experiments were conducted to capture both the flow structure as well as the phase separation. In addition, large-eddy simulations with a vaporliquid equilibrium model were performed. Both experimental and numerical results show phase formation for the cases, where the a-priori calculation predicts two-phase flow. Moreover, qualitative characteristics of the formation process agree well between experiments and numerical simulations and the transition behaviour from a dense-gas to a spray-like jet was captured by bothThe authors gratefully acknowledge the German Research Foundation (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft) for providing financial support in the framework of SFB/TRR 40. Financial support was also provided by Munich Aerospace (www.munich-aerospace.de). Furthermore, the authors thank the Gauss Centre for Supercomputing e.V. (GCS) (www.gauss-centre.eu) for supporting this project by providing computing time on the GCS Supercomputer SuperMUC at Leibniz Supercomputing Centre (www.lrz.de).Traxinger, C.; Müller, H.; Pfitzner, M.; Baab, S.; Lamanna, G.; Weigand, B.; Matheis, J.... (2018). Experimental and Numerical Investigation of Phase Separation due to Multi-Component Mixing at High-Pressure Conditions. En Ilass Europe. 28th european conference on Liquid Atomization and Spray Systems. Editorial Universitat Politècnica de València. 130-137. https://doi.org/10.4995/ILASS2017.2017.4756OCS13013

On the potential and challenges of laser-induced thermal acoustics for experimental investigation of macroscopic fluid phenomena

Mixing and evaporation processes play an important role in fluid injection and disintegration. Laser-induced thermal acoustics (LITA) also known as laser-induced grating spectroscopy (LIGS) is a promising four-wave mixing technique capable to acquire speed of sound and transport properties of fluids. Since the signal intensity scales with pressure, LITA is effective in high-pressure environments. By analysing the frequency of LITA signals using a direct Fourier analysis, speed of sound data can be directly determined using only geometrical parameters of the optical arrangement no equation of state or additional modelling is needed at this point. Furthermore, transport properties, like acoustic damping rate and thermal diffusivity, are acquired using an analytical expression for LITA signals with finite beam sizes. By combining both evaluations in one LITA signal, we can estimate mixing parameters, such as the mixture temperature and composition, using suitable models for speed of sound and the acquired transport properties. Finally, direct measurements of the acoustic damping rate can provide important insights on the physics of supercritical fluid behaviour

Droplet velocity and diameter distributions in flash boiling liquid nitrogen jets by means of phase Doppler diagnostics

Due to current and future environmental and safety issues in space propulsion, typical propellants for upper stage or satellite rocket engines such as the toxic hydrazine are going to be replaced by green propellants like the combination of liquid oxygen and hydrogen or methane. The injection of that kind of cryogenic fluids into the vacuum atmosphere of space leads to a superheated state, which results in a sudden and eruptive atomization due to flash boiling. For a detailed experimental investigation of superheated cryogenic fluids, the new cryogenic test bench M3.3 with a temperature controlled injection system was built at DLR Lampoldshausen. After a first test campaign with high-speed shadowgraphy of flash boiling liquid nitrogen sprays, a laser-based Phase Doppler system was set-up to determine the spatial distributions of droplet velocities and diameters in highly superheated sprays. The spatial distributions revealed a core region with high mean velocities close to the injector orifice. With increasing distance from the injector orifice, the sprays develop a more and more monodisperse pattern. These distributions also showed that atomization due to flash boiling generates finer sprays with growing degrees of superheat. In certain spray regions, two droplet populations varying in their direction of motion, velocity and diameter due to possible recirculation zones were observed. The experimental data of flash boiling liquid nitrogen generated within this study provide a comprehensive data base for the validation of numerical models and further numerical investigations.Deutsche ForschungsgemeinschaftProjekt DEA

On the potential and challenges of laser-induced thermal acoustics for experimental investigation of macroscopic fluid phenomena

Mixing and evaporation processes play an important role in fluid injection and disintegration. Laser-induced thermal acoustics (LITA) also known as laser-induced grating spectroscopy (LIGS) is a promising four-wave mixing technique capable to acquire speed of sound and transport properties of fluids. Since the signal intensity scales with pressure, LITA is effective in high-pressure environments. By analysing the frequency of LITA signals using a direct Fourier analysis, speed of sound data can be directly determined using only geometrical parameters of the optical arrangement no equation of state or additional modelling is needed at this point. Furthermore, transport properties, like acoustic damping rate and thermal diffusivity, are acquired using an analytical expression for LITA signals with finite beam sizes. By combining both evaluations in one LITA signal, we can estimate mixing parameters, such as the mixture temperature and composition, using suitable models for speed of sound and the acquired transport properties. Finally, direct measurements of the acoustic damping rate can provide important insights on the physics of supercritical fluid behaviour.Deutsche ForschungsgemeinschaftProjekt DEA

Characterisation of the transient mixing behaviour of evaporating near-critical droplets

With technical progress, combustion pressures have been increased over the years, frequently exceeding the critical pressure of the injected fluids. For conditions beyond the critical point of the injected fluids, the fundamental physics of mixing and evaporation processes is not yet fully understood. In particular, quantitative data for validation of numerical simulations and analytical models remain sparse. In previous works, transient speed of sound studies applying laser-induced thermal acoustics (LITA) have been conducted to investigate the mixing behaviour in the wake of an evaporating droplet injected into a supercritical atmosphere. LITA is a seedless, non-intrusive measurement technique capable of direct speed of sound measurements within these mixing processes. The used setup employs a high-repetition-rate excitation laser source and, therefore, allows the acquisition of time-resolved speed of sound data. For the visualisation of the evaporation process, measurements are accompanied by direct, high-speed shadowgraphy. In the present work, the measured speed of sound data are evaluated by applying an advection-controlled mixing assumption to estimate both the local mole fraction and mixing temperature. For this purpose, planar spontaneous Raman scattering results measured under the same operating conditions are evaluated using an advection-controlled mixing assumption with the perturbed-chain statistical associating fluid theory (PC-SAFT) equation of state. Successively, the resulting concentration–temperature field is used for the estimation of local mixture parameters from the detected speed of sound data. Moreover, models using the PC-SAFT equation of state and the NIST database for the computation of the speed of sound are compared. The investigations indicate a classical two-phase evaporation process with evaporative cooling of the droplet. The subsequent mixing of fluid vapour and ambient gas also remains subcritical in the direct vicinity of the droplet.Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaf